Videotex, teletext and general information retrieval systems are a rapidly emerging technology in which a user located at a home or office station, using hardware such as a dedicated terminal, communicates over an appropriate channel, such as the telephone system, with a host computer having access to a stored data bank or other service facilities. Appropriate software causes the host computer to interact with the user so that requests for information are translated into search routines which scan the data bank to locate the desired material. Some such systems are also capable of providing other services, such electronic banking, shopping, and the like.
One of the problems sometimes encountered in the use of information retrieval systems is that the user can become confused in the middle of a search effort and not know how to proceed any further without help. This is especially true since the new videotex and teletext systems are intended for mass consumption by ordinary individuals. In the past, information retrieval systems have been designed largely for the use of librarians and computer-oriented individuals, but we are now entering the era of widespread personal computer use in large numbers of homes and offices by individuals without much specialized training either in computer usage or in library science. This is a situation which calls for innovative and more effective help strategies to aid the unsophisticated user. It is important, however, that such strategies be economical, i.e. that help inquiries be handled by a computer and not require human intervention. It is also desirable to be able to audit, automatically, the frequency of help requests and to correlate that information with specific areas of the system which may prove to be trouble spots in need of change.
The user can not only become confused and need help with respect to specific areas of an information retrieval system, but may require system guide information to assist him or her in understanding the overall architecture of the system at any time. Therefore it is important to have information readily available not only with respect to a specific portion of a database, but also regarding the overall system operation. Indeed, sophisticated and effective assistance in understanding the overall system may well minimize the occurrence of confusion with regard to specific portions thereof. It would be advantageous, however, if after every time the user refreshed his understanding of the overall system operation, he could quickly and easily return to his previous searching location within the database.
It is also important for the user to be able to return quickly and easily to a particular place within the database after shutting down the user terminal and returning to it after a lapse of considerable time, e.g. days, weeks, or even longer. In other words, what is needed is an electronic bookmark, or better still, several electronic bookmarks together with an index of names by which to recall and distinguish between the different marked places.
Finally, it would be highly desirable for the information-finding process itself to be as highly automated as possible, i.e. for computers to serve not only as electronic libraries which are passively available to those people who have sufficient skills as librarians, but also to take over some of the job of designing search strategies, once the user has indicated the subject of interest.